{"id":12963,"date":"2017-07-13T05:30:08","date_gmt":"2017-07-13T09:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=12963"},"modified":"2017-07-13T08:53:51","modified_gmt":"2017-07-13T12:53:51","slug":"album-review-stephanie-morgan-chrysalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2017\/07\/13\/album-review-stephanie-morgan-chrysalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Stephanie Morgan &#8212; Chrysalism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-12964\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/stephmorgan.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"314\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/stephmorgan.jpg 350w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/stephmorgan-300x269.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/>Stephaniesid, the former group of\u00a0prodigiously talented singer Stephanie Morgan, had a kind of arty pop sound with the added interest of a strong jazz sensibility. Since the end of that project, Morgan has ventured out on her own, and, while <em>Chrysalism<\/em> should please longtime fans of her old band, it represents a decisive break from the past. More straightforward melodic lines are the order of the day, and the textures Morgan chooses to support those melodies \u2014 eerie Mellotron choirs on \u201cThe Minor Calling,\u201d a shuffling disco beat on \u201cI Hear a Symphony\u201d \u2014 suggest that she\u2019s found a recipe that allows her to pursue her ambitious ideas within a widely accessible musical framework.<\/p>\n<p>The minimalist instrumentation of \u201cBones\u201d is a model of subtlety, while \u201cEasy\u201d \u2014 built upon a simple enough musical foundation \u2014 manages to evoke the combined effect of Southern gospel, blues and jazzy torch songs, all in the space of just over four minutes. There\u2019s an underpinning of sadness, melancholy and resignation to many of the song arrangements, but that ambience is leavened with a sense \u2014 in the form of Morgan\u2019s vocal delivery \u2014 of indefatigable optimism.<\/p>\n<p>Midway through the record is \u201cIn the Sunlight,\u201d which \u2014 while not disavowing the more visceral emotions explored on other cuts \u2014 suggests that Morgan has charted a path forward and is supremely equipped to succeed in her ongoing journey. \u201cStardust\u201d has a vibe that\u2019s so unadorned and up-close that it\u2019s almost uncomfortable listening, but Morgan somehow makes it work. In \u201cThis One,\u201d she implores, \u201cIf you want to listen to one of my songs, listen to this one,\u201d but anyone drawn in by Morgan\u2019s expressive voice won\u2019t wish to limit themselves. Stephaniesid is dead; long live Stephanie Morgan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stephaniesid, the former group of\u00a0prodigiously talented singer Stephanie Morgan, had a kind of arty pop sound with the added interest of a strong jazz sensibility. Since the end of that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12964,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,51,65],"tags":[907,2823,2034,2035],"class_list":["post-12963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-release","category-pop","category-review","tag-girls-rock-asheville","tag-stephanie-morgan","tag-stephanies-id","tag-stephaniesid","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12963"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12965,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12963\/revisions\/12965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}